UNWTO Practicum Workshop on Crisis Communications in Tourism
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has the pleasure to announce that the 2015 UNWTO Practicum programme is being launched by UNWTO.Themis Foundation in a few days. This capacity building initiative will include a workshop on Crisis Communications in Tourism and will be held in English at the UNWTO Headquarters in Madrid and in the Principality of Andorra from 22 to 29 November 2015.
On this opportunity, the topic has arisen Member States great interest since crisis communications is a crucial element of good crisis management systems. It helps limit the negative impact of a crisis by addressing the information needs of all industry stakeholders in an efficient, timely and responsible manner.
The significant challenges that crisis situations can cause to the travel and tourism sector are well known. Tourism is a resilient sector that tends to show a significant capacity to rebound after a crisis situation as events such as man-made or natural disasters have shown. Still, in the short-term, the impact of negative events on the sector can be very important. Against this background, and based on the UNWTO Toolbox on Crisis Communications, this workshop will provide an overview in an interactive manner of the key elements of crisis communications including the use of social media, media relations, stakeholders coordination in order to prepare participants to manage crisis communications in a more effective manner.
Therefore, Member States officials attending the seminar will be provided with step-by-step protocols, checklists, sample templates and guidelines for measuring effectiveness. The analysis of best practices and case studies will also be presented.
The UNWTO.Practicum Workshop aims to provide participants with knowledge, skills, and a forum for discussion and reflection on the various crisis communication tools so that, by the end of the workshop, they will be able to plan and implement crisis communication plans that mitigate the impact of crisis situations and accelerate recovery.
